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Aditya Chakrabortty on thinkers, trends and researchen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:19:59 GMT2015-03-31T21:19:59Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
The Welfare State, 1942-2013, obituary | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/08/welfare-state-1942-2013-obituary
After decades of public illness, Beveridge's most famous offspring has died<p>For much of its short but celebrated life, the Welfare State was cherished by Britons. Instant public affection greeted its birth and even as it passed away peacefully yesterday morning, government ministers swore they would do all they could to keep it alive.</p><p>The Welfare State's huge appeal lay in its combination of simplicity and assurance. A safety net to catch those fallen on hard times, come rain or shine, boom or bust, it would be there for all those who had paid in.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/08/welfare-state-1942-2013-obituary">Continue reading...</a>WelfareBenefitsEconomicsBusinessPoliticsSocietyUK newsMoneyTue, 08 Jan 2013 07:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/08/welfare-state-1942-2013-obituaryAditya Chakrabortty2013-01-08T07:00:04ZThe graph that shows how far David Cameron wants to shrink the state | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/graph-cameron-wants-shrink-state
If the Tories get their way, within five years the UK will have a smaller public sector than any major developed nation<br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/oct/16/government-spending-countries-gdp">Get the data behind this story - and compare countries</a><p>This column is normally accompanied by a photo; an illustration that takes its cue from the text. But not today. The chart you see on this page is plainly not decorative: it is the main event. All I'm going to discuss is its implications.</p><p>Drawing on IMF figures published last week, the graph compares what will happen to government spending in Britain up to 2017 with the outlook for Germany and the US. And what it shows is that the UK will plunge from public spending on a par with Germany in 2009, to spending less than the US by 2017. Had France, Sweden or Canada been included on this graph, the UK would still come bottom. If George Osborne gets his way, within the next five years, Britain will have a smaller public sector than any other major developed nation.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/graph-cameron-wants-shrink-state">Continue reading...</a>Economic policyPoliticsTax and spendingDavid CameronGeorge OsborneUS economyEconomicsBusinessPublic sector cutsPublic services policySocietyMon, 15 Oct 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/graph-cameron-wants-shrink-stateIMF WEO Database Oct 2012Government spending as a percentage of national GDP. Photograph: IMF WEO Database Oct 2012IMF WEO Database Oct 2012Government spending as a percentage of national GDP. Photograph: IMF WEO Database Oct 2012Aditya Chakrabortty2012-10-15T19:00:00ZOccupy is one year old. The critics are wrong to say there's little to celebrate | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/occupy-year-old-critics-wrong
Occupy might not have the high-profile presence it did a year ago, but it would be wrong to dismiss its continuing relevance<p>Rarely can a movement have been so hastily obituarised as Occupy Wall Street. The campaign that has done more than any other to thrust inequality on to the political agenda of one of <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html" title="">the world's most unequal countries</a> turned one only yesterday – yet already a would-be priesthood is reading its last rites.</p><p>Even as demonstrators began gathering in Manhattan last Saturday for anniversary celebrations, the esteemed financial columnist Joe Nocera <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/15/opinion/nocera-two-days-in-september.html?_r=0" title="">proclaimed in the New York Times</a>: &quot;For all intents and purposes, the Occupy movement is dead, even as the Tea Party lives on.&quot; A similar note was struck in the news reports that dutifully totted up all the weekend arrests of protesters before bolting on boilerplate about &quot;a cause now on the wane&quot;. In New York last weekend, I met a hedge-fund manager who recalled how his fellow financiers would froth themselves into a fury over the Occupiers last autumn; nowadays, he said, the subject barely came up.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/occupy-year-old-critics-wrong">Continue reading...</a>Occupy Wall StreetOccupy movementProtestWorld newsUS newsNew YorkScienceMon, 17 Sep 2012 14:36:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/occupy-year-old-critics-wrongJulie Dermansky/CorbisAn Occupy protester in New York at the weekend's first-anniversary action. Photograph: Julie Dermansky/CorbisJulie Dermansky/CorbisAn Occupy protester in New York at the weekend's first-anniversary action. Photograph: Julie Dermansky/CorbisAditya Chakrabortty2012-09-17T14:36:00ZThe Thick of It? What George Osborne is doing is beyond satire | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/10/thick-of-it-george-osborne
When I think of what the Treasury has been up to, the daily unravelling at DoSAC looks like an exercise in political mastery<p>Love The Thick of It as I do, I can no longer see it as political satire. This isn't some mewling about how last Saturday's episode doesn't match up to the rest; it takes the sheerest ingratitude to complain about a script that contains the line <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/sep/08/the-thick-of-it-episode-one?intcmp=239" title="">&quot;we both know she's a fart in a frock, and I want to waft her out of here&quot;</a> or one that describes Tories as &quot;upper-classholes&quot; and renames the Lib Dems &quot;the Inbetweeners&quot;. No, I&nbsp;mean it in the same sense that the awarding of the Nobel peace prize to the great warmonger Henry Kissinger prompted Tom Lehrer to pronounce satire dead. The daily reality of this coalition government is far more ridiculous than anything even the most sulphurous sitcom can throw at it.</p><p>Armando Iannucci's genius in creating his show was to envisage government as a workplace comedy, driven by jockeying for power and prestige and potplants: essentially, David Brent goes to Westminster.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/10/thick-of-it-george-osborne">Continue reading...</a>George OsborneThe Thick of ItTelevisionBankingEconomic policyPoliticsMon, 10 Sep 2012 20:00:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/10/thick-of-it-george-osborneBBC/Des WillieWill Smith as Phil, Olivia Poulet as Emma, Roger Allam as MP Peter Mannion and Vincent Franklin as adviser Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It. Photograph: BBC/Des WillieBBC/Des WillieWill Smith as Phil, Olivia Poulet as Emma, Roger Allam as MP Peter Mannion and Vincent Franklin as adviser Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It. Photograph: BBC/Des WillieAditya Chakrabortty2012-09-10T20:00:11ZMeet Wealth-Creator™ – a new superhero for these recessionary times – here to save us from sticky red tape | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/03/meet-wealth-creator-recessionary-times
Except that these are not wealth creators at all. They're wealth extractors – shaking down their businesses or investments for money, without even risking much of their own cash<p>Batman, Spider-man, Superman: with their capes, japes and frivolity, these superheroes are all so pre-Lehmans. Which is why I'm introducing a new action character for these recessionary times, one with special powers to restore even the most shrivelled economy to full health. Ladies and Gents, let me present WEALTH-CREATOR™.</p><p>From the Planet Rand, WEALTH-CREATOR™ comes armed with special powers of Dynamism and Growth. His sole weakness is high marginal tax rates, which can repel him all the way to Zurich (Zurich, I tell you!). But he's our last defence against the villain Burokrat, whose evil scheme is to cover the whole world with sticky red tape. WEALTH-CREATOR™ even has his own&nbsp;sound effect: Dosh!</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/03/meet-wealth-creator-recessionary-times">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyScienceEconomicsFinancial crisisMon, 03 Sep 2012 19:20:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/03/meet-wealth-creator-recessionary-timesMichael Conroy/APMitt Romney. Photograph: Michael Conroy/APMichael Conroy/APMitt Romney. Photograph: Michael Conroy/APAditya Chakrabortty2012-09-03T19:20:01ZTen years of austerity? Only the British would meet that with barely a murmur | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/23/10-years-austerity-without-murmur
We appear to accept a decade of national privation, but there's no reason this unprecedented schedule of pain should be taken as inevitable<p>Imagine living in a country where the prime minister could announce one morning that his drastic spending cuts would now roll on for twice as long and hear barely a murmur of protest. Despite the government ranking as more unpopular than at any time since taking power. Despite the economy being mired in a double-dip recession, and despite battalions of economists urging opposite policies. What kind of broken-backed nation would that be? That would be Britain as of last Thursday.</p><p>In the Daily Telegraph, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9410053/David-Cameron-no-end-in-sight-for-austerity.html" title="">David Cameron declared he could no longer &quot;see a time&quot; when his austerity programme would be over</a>. Asked if that meant the cuts would carry on until 2020, he didn't demur.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/23/10-years-austerity-without-murmur">Continue reading...</a>Economic policyPoliticsPublic sector cutsPublic services policyPublic financeSocietyPsychologyScienceMon, 23 Jul 2012 19:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/23/10-years-austerity-without-murmurLOCOG/Getty ImagesGeorge Osborne: mastermind of a campaign of austerity Maoism. Photograph: LOCOG/Getty ImagesLOCOG/Getty ImagesGeorge Osborne: mastermind of a campaign of austerity Maoism. Photograph: LOCOG/Getty ImagesAditya Chakrabortty2012-07-23T19:30:01ZEd Miliband is a great middle-class activist. But a prime minister? | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/ed-miliband-middle-class-activist
As Labour leader, he makes a very fine boss of an NGO<p>Every three months, a memo of instructions goes around to the collected Marys and Wills of Her Majesty's Press. The latest is headlined: LAY OFF ED. Miliband junior, says the ruling, deserves a break from all the press carping (which, admittedly, was ordered up in previous notices). <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edmiliband" title="">After all, the opposition leader's scored a few direct hits, has he not?</a> Spearheading the underdogs' assault last year on Murdoch. Mounting a not-bad campaign for a public inquiry into the banking scandal. Meanwhile, the&nbsp;David-ites are dozing and polls show Labour&nbsp;with a promising lead over the Tories.</p><p>The note ends: pundits and editors should now train their guns on David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Like many a troubled couple before them, the coalition partners hope to heal their relationship on exotic getaways – only, instead of Siena and Paris, they tour tractor factories in Basildon and, yesterday, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/16/david-cameron-nick-clegg-coalition-last" title="">a rail manufacturer in Smethwick</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/ed-miliband-middle-class-activist">Continue reading...</a>PoliticsEd MilibandPsychologyMon, 16 Jul 2012 19:00:15 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/ed-miliband-middle-class-activistDave J Hogan/Getty Images EuropeEd Miliband … would make a very fine boss of an NGO. Photograph: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images EuropeDave J Hogan/Getty Images EuropeEd Miliband … would make a very fine boss of an NGO. Photograph: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images EuropeAditya Chakrabortty2012-07-16T19:00:15ZThe wrecking of Barclays is one of organised looting by those at the very top | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/09/wrecking-of-barclays-organised-looting
The way Barclays has been debased to enrich a few hundred of its elite employees is also the story of Britain in recent decades<p>You'd have learned precious little from watching Bob Diamond in parliament last week – apart, that is, from his love for his former employer. If pressed, you or I might admit to tolerating our jobs, to getting on with colleagues or, at the very least, to taking full advantage of the company stationery supplies. For the multimillionaire banker, however, this would be mere watery equivocation. The firm that had forced him out just the day before was &quot;an amazing place&quot;, packed with &quot;wonderful people&quot;. And, he told MPs over and over: <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/diamond-i-love-barclays-it-is-an-incredible-bank-7911472.html" title="">&quot;I love Barclays.&quot;</a></p><p>Sadly, no one asked the obvious follow-up: if&nbsp;that's how you treat organisations you admire, what on earth becomes of the ones you dislike? Because since arriving in 1996, Diamond has debased what was a venerable, Quaker-founded high-street institution into something else entirely: a financially precarious outfit with a reputation for dodging taxes and fixing interest rates.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/09/wrecking-of-barclays-organised-looting">Continue reading...</a>BarclaysBob DiamondBankingBusinessPsychologyScienceBanks and building societiesMoneyMon, 09 Jul 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/09/wrecking-of-barclays-organised-lootingNadia Isakova/AlamyBarclays' top 238 employees took a total of £1.01bn home last year – or £4.27m each. Photograph: Nadia Isakova/AlamyNadia Isakova/AlamyBarclays' top 238 employees took a total of £1.01bn home last year – or £4.27m each. Photograph: Nadia Isakova/AlamyAditya Chakrabortty2012-07-09T19:00:00ZThe Shard is the perfect metaphor for modern London | Aditya Chakraborrtyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/25/shard-metaphor-for-modern-london
Expensive, off-limits and owned by foreign investors – the Shard extends the ways in which London is becoming more unequal<p>Next Thursday, a giant metaphor will be launched in London. The prime minister of Qatar will fly over especially; his supporting act will be Prince Andrew. Foreign dignitaries will be treated to a lavish dinner; lowly residents of the capital can gawk at a free laser show that threatens to out-do George Lucas.</p><p>This is how developers plan to &quot;inaugurate&quot; <a href="http://the-shard.com/" title="">the Shard</a>, the 72-storey skyscraper that already stalks Londoners everywhere they go. It glowers over your conversations in Peckham; <a href="http://www.willpearson.co.uk/high_resolution/london-gigapixel-panorama-hampstead-heath-views/" title="">it skulks in your eyeline as you amble along Hampstead Heath</a>. Get up close to Europe's tallest tower, and its 1,017 feet (getting on for twice the height of the Gherkin) render everything around it toylike,&nbsp;laughable.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/25/shard-metaphor-for-modern-london">Continue reading...</a>EqualityLondonArchitecturePsychologyScienceSocietyArt and designUK newsCommercial propertyReal estateThe ShardMon, 25 Jun 2012 18:59:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/25/shard-metaphor-for-modern-londonKevin Coombs/ReutersThe Shard, towering over St Paul's Cathedral. Photograph: Kevin Coombs/ReutersKevin Coombs/ReutersThe Shard, towering over St Paul's Cathedral. Photograph: Kevin Coombs/ReutersAditya Chakrabortty2012-06-25T18:59:00ZCan Mervyn King save the British economy? | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/18/mervyn-king-save-british-economy
The Bank of England governor is probably the man most responsible for getting Britain out of recession. So can he do it?<p>&quot;It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.&quot; You heard that Warren Buffett folksiness a lot in 2008, as reckless banks and investors went to the wall. You can expect to hear it all over again in the next few months. This time, however, it will be said of governments, who have failed to prepare for the coming turbulence.</p><p>You don't have to be an insider or a banker to spot an ugly financial storm on the horizon; you just need to follow the news. In Greece, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/18/greek-election-coalition-government" title="">the rightwing New Democracy party</a> is scraping together a coalition whose primary objective will be to sustain an unsustainable austerity programme. In Spain, the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/18/eurozone-crisis-live-markets-rally-greek-election" title="">cash-strapped government</a> is now being charged 7% interest on 10-year loans; in other words, one of the richest sovereign nations on the planet is getting a worse deal than you or I&nbsp;could score <a href="http://www.money.co.uk/loans/unsecured-loans.htm" title="">on the internet</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/18/mervyn-king-save-british-economy">Continue reading...</a>Mervyn KingBank of EnglandRecessionEconomic policyGeorge OsbornePoliticsEconomicsBusinessEurozone crisisBankingBanking reformFinancial sectorEuropean banksFinancial crisisEuroEuropeMon, 18 Jun 2012 19:00:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/18/mervyn-king-save-british-economyReutersMervyn King: 'More powerful than any British central banker in living memory'. Photograph: ReutersReutersMervyn King: 'More powerful than any British central banker in living memory'. Photograph: ReutersAditya Chakrabortty2012-06-18T19:00:09ZGive these overpaid CEOs asbos (that's Antisocial Business Orders) | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/give-these-overpaid-ceos-asbos
They give their advice on how to run the country, yet, with their huge pay packages and 'efficient' tax affairs, they're increasingly remote from the rest of us<p>Forget civil servants. Forget academic expertise. Forget irksome consultation and careful study of what happens in other countries. No, today's Downing Street wonk knows just how to sort out any problem of public policy: just add CEO.</p><p>I'm not referring solely to private-equity baron Adrian Beecroft and last week's publication of his 16 pages of under-researched chest-puffery on <a href="http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/r/12-825-report-on-employment-law-beecroft.pdf" title="">how employment regulation should be slashed</a> (actually, let's be fair: take away the gubbins and it's only 13 pages of under-researched chest-puffery). That merely follows on from Mary Portas and her <a href="http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/p/11-1434-portas-review-future-of-high-streets.pdf" title="">government-commissioned proposals on how to revivify Britain's high streets</a>; and from Topshop boss Philip Green and his 2010 report for David Cameron on how to cut waste in Whitehall.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/give-these-overpaid-ceos-asbos">Continue reading...</a>Public financeBeecroft reportSocietyEconomic policyPoliticsPsychologyScienceSir Philip GreenMary PortasWPPMon, 28 May 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/give-these-overpaid-ceos-asbosLewis Whyld/PASir Philip Green and David Cameron. The Topshop boss is the prime minister's former efficiency tsar. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PALewis Whyld/PASir Philip Green and David Cameron. The Topshop boss is the prime minister's former efficiency tsar. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PAAditya Chakrabortty2012-05-28T19:00:00ZThe austerity deniers want to get us out of this crisis by hacking at the poor and vulnerable | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/everything-must-go-poor-vulnerable
The everything-must-go brigade discuss workers' rights with all the suspicion of an 11-year-old ordering frogs' legs<p>So you think you're having a hard time, what with the cuts and the scrapping of public services and those threats of losing your job? Well, I bring good news. The austerity we've heard so much time about – this historic, unparalleled slashing of spending – is all made up. David Cameron is simply fudging his figures. Those Jobcentre staff haven't been made redundant. And remember the Sure Start centre that you thought had shut? Why, it's still open, and bursting with toddlers.</p><p>This magical thinking comes from one of the world's biggest money brokers, Tullett Prebon. It argued last week that Britain's austerity is &quot;mendacious&quot; spin, and a &quot;con&quot; and, in case you hadn't got the message and been bathed in sufficient spittle, &quot;bare-faced deception&quot;.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/everything-must-go-poor-vulnerable">Continue reading...</a>Financial crisisEconomicsUK newsMediaAusterityMon, 21 May 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/everything-must-go-poor-vulnerableAditya Chakrabortty2012-05-21T19:00:00ZIs the single currency worth saving at all? | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/14/is-single-currency-worth-saving
Eurozone officials must have guessed at the upheaval and social unrest caused by their austerity measures – and imposed them anyway<p>Never in the history of the British media have so many commentators lavished such intense concern on so abstract a concept. I refer, of course, to the euro – because, once you get past the crude notes and coins, what could be more satisfactorily airy than the optimal conditions for a currency union across 17 nations? Over the past few days, from those first reproachful pips of the Today programme to the final credits of Newsnight, pundits and politicians, financiers and journalists have thrust and parried over how to rescue the single currency. Will it hold together if Athens marches out? Will Lisbon, Madrid even, have to lumber after it? But I have yet to hear discussion of a more fundamental question: is the single currency project worth saving at all?</p><p>In raising this, I'm not throwing in my cards with the Ukip-ers, half of whom still view Brussels as engaged in a knavish plot to straighten all known bananas. Nor am I forgetting those grand promises made upon the euro's launch just over a decade ago – it's just that I can no longer see how anyone might make them with a straight face, especially that prediction from Wim Duisenberg, inaugural head of the European Central Bank, about how an era of &quot;<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1366774/Launch-of-euro-heralds-peace-and-prosperity.html" title="">peace and prosperity</a>&quot; would follow.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/14/is-single-currency-worth-saving">Continue reading...</a>EuroGreeceEuropean UnionEconomicsWorld newsEuropePsychologyScienceAusterityMon, 14 May 2012 19:00:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/14/is-single-currency-worth-savingSimela Pantzartzi/ANA-MPAA demonstration at a May Day rally against the austerity measures imposed on Greece. Photograph: Simela Pantzartzi/ANA-MPASimela Pantzartzi/ANA-MPAA demonstration at a May Day rally against the austerity measures imposed on Greece. Photograph: Simela Pantzartzi/ANA-MPAAditya Chakrabortty2012-05-14T19:00:09ZAngry academics can't answer my criticism&nbsp;that&nbsp;there's too little analysis of our current crisis | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/07/academics-cant-answer-criticism-analysis
Discussion of the economic crisis must be made democratic – and economists have a role to play in that<p>At the fag end of one university term, two Cambridge economists set about persuading a prime minister to do a U-turn. Somehow, they thought a letter would do the trick. So opposed were Frank Hahn and Robert Neild to Margaret Thatcher's austerity economics that in March 1981 that they asked fellow academics to sign a memo warning: &quot;Present politics will deepen the depression, erode the industrial base … and threaten … stability.&quot; The protest was signed by 364 of Britain's most eminent economists, including the eventual head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, and published in the Times.</p><p>Thirty years on, and you already know what good the protest did: none whatsoever. The lady was not for turning. At the time, however, it was big news. Thatcher was challenged in parliament to name even two economists who supported her (an aide remarked she was lucky not to be asked for a third).</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/07/academics-cant-answer-criticism-analysis">Continue reading...</a>EconomicsAcademic expertsSociologyPsychologyScienceEconomic policyPoliticsEducationFinancial crisisSocietySocial historyMon, 07 May 2012 19:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/07/academics-cant-answer-criticism-analysisKip Rano/Rex FeaturesMargaret Thatcher in 1981: that year, she was challenged by 364 of Britain's most eminent economists. Photograph: Kip Rano/Rex FeaturesKip Rano/Rex FeaturesMargaret Thatcher in 1981: that year, she was challenged by 364 of Britain's most eminent economists. Photograph: Kip Rano/Rex FeaturesAditya Chakrabortty2012-05-07T19:00:08ZNo, Boris – spending more on London won't fix the country's economic woes | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/30/boris-spending-london-economic-woes
London gets the lion's share of taxpayer money for health, housing and transport. Now Boris wants to blow more on the capital. But his argument is flatly wrong<p>Are you anxious about the double-dip recession? Unsure about how to pep up a seriously flagging country? Don't fret – Boris Johnson has the answer. You take billions from British taxpayers and pump it into the economy – but don't do anything daft like spread the cash around Britain, heavens no. You blow it all in the capital.</p><p>&quot;A pound spent in Croydon is of far more value to the country than a pound spent in Strathclyde,&quot; Johnson told the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/26/job-creation-london-mayor-huffpost-linkedin_n_1456092.html" title="">Huffington Post</a> in an extraordinary interview this weekend. And in what was evidently an off-day for his internal censor, he went on: &quot;You will generate jobs in Strathclyde far more effectively if you invest in parts of London.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/30/boris-spending-london-economic-woes">Continue reading...</a>PoliticsLondonEconomic policyUK newsBoris JohnsonLondon mayoral election 2012SocietyMon, 30 Apr 2012 19:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/30/boris-spending-london-economic-woesAlamyGreater London alone is to get £45.6bn in hard-helmet work – more than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put together. Photograph: AlamyAlamyGreater London alone is to get £45.6bn in hard-helmet work – more than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put together. Photograph: AlamyAditya Chakrabortty2012-04-30T19:00:08ZEconomics has failed us: but where are the fresh voices?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/16/economics-has-failed-us-alternative-voices
Mainstream economic models have been discredited. But why aren't political scientists and sociologists offering an alternative view?<p>When the history of how a good crisis went to waste gets written up, it will surely contain a big chapter on the failure of our academic elites. Because just like the politicians, the taxpayer-funded intellectuals at our universities have missed the historic opportunities gifted to them by the financial collapse. And it will be the rest of us who pay the price.</p><p>At the start of the banking crisis, the air was thick with the sound of lachrymose economists. How did they miss the biggest crash since 1929? Professors at the LSE were asked that very question by the Queen – and were too tongue-tied to reply. A better answer came from Alan Greenspan, until recently the most powerful economist on the planet, who went to Capitol Hill and confessed to a &quot;flaw&quot; in his model of the world. Clearly, the economic crisis was also a crisis of economics.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/16/economics-has-failed-us-alternative-voices">Continue reading...</a>EconomicsPsychologyFinancial crisisScienceWorld newsBankingFinancial sectorBusinessSociologyEducationMon, 16 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/16/economics-has-failed-us-alternative-voicesimage.netActually do some meaningful work? Us? Top academics, The Young Ones Photograph: image.netimage.netActually do some meaningful work? Us? Top academics, The Young Ones Photograph: image.netAditya Chakrabortty2012-04-16T19:00:00ZWhy do bankers get to decide who pays for the mess Europe is in? | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/02/bankers-decide-pay-mess-europe
There were summits about how much misery would be imposed on the Greeks – and no trade unions got a say<p>What you're about to read does, I admit, sound like a conspiracy theory. It involves powerful people meeting in private offices, hundreds of billions of euros, and clandestine deals determining the fates of entire countries. All that's missing is a grassy knoll or a wandering band of illuminati. There are, however, two crucial differences: these events are still unfolding – and they're more worrying than any who-killed-JFK fantasy I've ever heard.</p><p>Cast your mind back to the euro crisis talks last year, when the future of Greece was being decided. How much Athens should pay its bailiffs in the banks, on what terms, and the hardship that ordinary Greeks would have to endure as a result.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/02/bankers-decide-pay-mess-europe">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyScienceGreeceFinancial crisisMon, 02 Apr 2012 19:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/02/bankers-decide-pay-mess-europeAditya Chakrabortty2012-04-02T19:00:08ZHow we fell out of love with Keynes | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/26/journey-from-keynesiani-economics-to-austerity
The same intellectual retreat can be seen all over the western world and it shows that noble intentions and half-decent ideas don't get you very far<p>Remember all that talk about never letting a crisis go to waste? All those frontbenchers – from across the political spectrum – who swore that the banking crash would change economic policy for good? Vince Cable and Alistair Darling traded their favourite bits of Keynes and state intervention was firmly back in fashion. Well, you can rip up those fine, fevered promises and stick them in the bin. That at least is&nbsp;the big message out of last week's budget.</p><p>Oh, we all know what the papers reported: the granny tax, the kid gloves for the super-rich, and George Osborne's tin ear. But just as notable was what they didn't pick up: any meaningful dispute over the big picture. Labour's two Eds concentrated their attack on the chancellor for the fairness of his individual measures and kept schtum about the overall cuts strategy, of which they are only a small part.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/26/journey-from-keynesiani-economics-to-austerity">Continue reading...</a>EconomicsPsychologyScienceMon, 26 Mar 2012 19:00:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/26/journey-from-keynesiani-economics-to-austerityAnne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Greek crisis acted as a parable of what happens when countries borrow too much. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty ImagesAnne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Greek crisis acted as a parable of what happens when countries borrow too much. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty ImagesAditya Chakrabortty2012-03-26T19:00:05ZPrivatising our roads will be a terrible deal – just as it was for the telecoms and water industries | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/mar/19/private-overhaul-roads-terrible-deal
Report after report shows that the myth of greater private-sector efficiency in doing public works is just that: a myth<p>Einstein defined insanity as &quot;doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results&quot;. In which case, going by his speech yesterday on&nbsp;overhauling Britain's roads and airports, David Cameron is mad.</p><p>I don't usually do personal, or rude. But if the prime minister really, truly thinks he can do what his predecessors have done over the past couple of decades and not cop precisely the same woeful mess that they did, then he's bonkers. Gaga. A&nbsp;few Pret sandwiches short of the full picnic.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/mar/19/private-overhaul-roads-terrible-deal">Continue reading...</a>PsychologySciencePrivatisationTransport policyDavid CameronRoad transportPoliticsTransportBusinessEconomic policyMon, 19 Mar 2012 20:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/mar/19/private-overhaul-roads-terrible-dealAlamyGiving our roads on 100-year leases would merely transfer public assets to some private-sector oligarch. Photograph: AlamyAlamyGiving our roads on 100-year leases would merely transfer public assets to some private-sector oligarch. Photograph: AlamyAditya Chakrabortty2012-03-19T20:00:04ZWho came up with the model for excessive pay? No, it wasn't the bankers – it was academics | Aditya Chakraborttyhttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/30/excessive-pay-not-bankers-academics
All the focus has been on bankers' bonuses, yet no one has looked at the economists who argued for rewarding bosses by giving them a bigger financial stake in their companies<p>Take a big step back. Ignore those sterile debates about how Dave screwed up over Stephen Hester's pay and where this leaves Ed. Instead, ask this: which profession has done most to justify the millions handed over to the boss of RBS, his colleagues and counterparts? Which group has been most influential in making the argument that top people deserve top pay? Not the executives themselves – at least, not directly. Nor the headhunters. Try the economists.</p><p>The ground rules for the system by which City bankers, Westminster MPs and ordinary taxpayers live today were set by two US economists just a couple of decades ago. In 1990, Michael Jensen and Kevin Murphy published one of the most famous papers in economics, which first appeared in the Journal of Political Economy and then in the Harvard Business Review. Its argument is well summed up by the latter's title: <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=146148" title="">&quot;CEO Incentives: It's Not How Much You Pay, But How.&quot;</a></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/30/excessive-pay-not-bankers-academics">Continue reading...</a>Executive pay and bonusesBusinessStephen HesterBankingRoyal Bank of ScotlandPsychologyScienceMon, 30 Jan 2012 20:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/30/excessive-pay-not-bankers-academicsRonald Grant ArchiveMichael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street – the 1987 film that saw through the greed culture. Photograph: Ronald Grant ArchiveRonald Grant ArchiveMichael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street – the 1987 film that saw through the greed culture. Photograph: Ronald Grant ArchiveAditya Chakrabortty2012-01-30T20:30:00Z